Free Will Denial, Punishment, and Original Position Deliberation
Free Will Denial, Punishment, and Original Position Deliberation
Author(s): Benjamin VilhauerSubject(s): Criminal Law, Penology
Published by: Instytut Filozofii Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: punishment; free will skepticism; original position; retribution; Kant; Rawls; deterrence;
Summary/Abstract: I defend a deontological social contract justification of punishment for philosophers who deny free will and moral responsibility (FW/MR). Even if nobody has FW/MR, a criminal justice system is fair to the people it targets if we would consent to it in a version of original position deli- beration where we assumed that we would be targeted by the justice system when the veil is raised. Even if we assumed we would be convicted of a crime, we would consent to the imprisonment of violent criminals if prison conditions were better than the state of nature but deterring enough to prevent the state of nature.
Journal: Diametros
- Issue Year: 21/2024
- Issue No: 79
- Page Range: 91-106
- Page Count: 16
- Language: English